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Travel Itinerary of Treasures of São Tomé Tour

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This is an example itinerary. Upon arrival, our specialised staff will sit down with you to compose the actual programme, based on your personal interests, weather conditions and where the wildlife can be found.

Travel Itinerary of Treasures of São Tomé

	Day	Trip summary	Lodging
1	Friday	Arrival São Tomé*); transfer to Omali Lodge Luxury Hotel	Omali Lodge Luxury Hotel
2	Saturday	Full day on São Tomé ; excursions**) or relaxation time	Omali Lodge Luxury Hotel
3	Sunday	Full day on São Tomé ; excursions**) or relaxation time	Omali Lodge Luxury Hotel
4	Monday	Full day on São Tomé ; excursions**) or relaxation time	Omali Lodge Luxury Hotel
5	Tuesday	Full day on São Tomé ; excursions**) or relaxation time	Omali Lodge Luxury Hotel
6	Wednesday	Full day on São Tomé ; excursions**) or relaxation time	Omali Lodge Luxury Hotel
7	Thursday	Full day on São Tomé ; excursions**) or relaxation time	Omali Lodge Luxury Hotel
8	Friday	Return flight to Lisbon	N/A

*) It is possible to fly to São Tomé via Libreville. Please contact our reservations department for the details.

**) Please note that all excursions on São Tomé are not included in the package price of this programme.

Day 1: Friday – Arrival São Tomé

Upon arrival at São Tomé airport, the Omali Lodge staff will be waiting to meet you. The Omali Lodge Luxury Hotel is only a 5 minute drive from the airport.

If you arrive with TAP, you will arrive early in the morning, in time for breakfast at Omali Lodge Luxury Hotel. You will have the rest of the day to recover from the flight or to start to discover the cultural and natural wonders of the island.

If you arrive from Libreville, Gabon with Africa’s Connection, you will arrive at 19h30. Before dinner, you will have some time to settle into your room, to take a swim in the pool or to enjoy a drink at the pool side bar.

Lodging: Omali Lodge Luxury Hotel

Day 2 – 7 : Saturday to Thursday – São Tomé

São Tomé offers many possible itineraries, such as a visit to see the strange volcanic crater deep in the forest of Ôbo National Park. Some other possibilities are:

São Tomé City Tour
Visit the old city centre and get a feel of what São Tomé was like during the colonial era. At the lively Mercado Central, you will discover the islands products and the Calilu’s secret ingredients. With a visit to the National Museum, our guide will tell you about the life on the plantations and São Tomé’s tormented pre-independence history.

São Tomé’s well-developed infrastructure and its rich flora are an ideal combination for exploring the island. Head east, south or north by car and discover São Tomé’s dramatic landscapes of torrents and waterfalls, black and white sand beaches, sheer sea cliffs, tropical forest and extensive cocoa plantations.
Day Trip by Car - Wild South São Tomé
This full day trip will take you to the heart of the Caué district at the southern tip of the island, where the road ends and adventure begins. After a stop for coffee at the Roça São João, you will head to Malanza, a small village near to São Tomé’s largest mangrove area, protected by the Obô National Park.

Here, local fishermen will take you on their traditional dug out canoes into the mangrove to discover its peculiar biodiversity. You will then have lunch at the community-run Jalé Ecolodge and visit the beautiful Roça Porto Alegre and its breathtaking views on the Iogo-Iogo bay. On your way back, you will stop to take a swim in one of Caué’s most secret beaches…
Visit to Bom Sucesso Botanical Garden

São Tomé’s native flora (700 species including a hundred orchids) and fauna (birds and marine turtles) are of particular interest, as many of its species are endemic. Indeed, it is possible to see more than 100 different orchids from the island at the Bom Sucesso Botanical Garden.
Day Trip by Car – East Coast São Tomé

Your first stop is the Roça Agua Izê, a working cocoa plantation, with its colonial buildings and warehouses. You will then continue along the coast, passing typical fishermen villages and admiring some of the best views of the island. Roça São João is your final destination, where you can relax and enjoy São Tomé’s best-kept culinary secrets for lunch. Famous cook and artist João Carlos Silva welcomes guests to visit his plantation and colorful guesthouse, an eclectic blend of modern art, colonial patrimony and rural Santomean craftwork. On your way back to the capital, you can stop for a swim in any of the numerous secluded beaches found on the East Coast.
Day Trip by Car - Country Side São Tomé

Once one of the world’s top exporters, São Tomé is famous for the quality of its cocoa. Conducted by an agronomist, this tour will allow you to discover how cocoa is harvested and transformed on the island by small planters. But there’s more to São Tomé than cocoa nowadays! It is also possible to visit a coffee estate, a pepper and vanilla plantation and a garden specialized in the export of ornamental tropical flowers.
Hiking in Ôbo National Park
Ôbo Natural Park has only recently been created and helps protect the unique natural heritage of the island. The old cocoa plantation “Roça Bombaim” is a major point of entry to the Ôbo National Park. Surrounded by mountains and waterfalls, this old estate has been rehabilitated into a charming small hostel. One of the eco-guides will take you through the plantations and into the park to discover the secrets of the Santomean rainforest. After a refreshing bath and picnic at the waterfall “Formoso Cascade”, you will head back to the roça for a well-deserved locally brewed cup of coffee.
Hiking along the Tunnels of the Rio Contador

This adventurous hike takes you to the limits of the National Park to discover São Tomé’s unique water adduction system, an impressive heritage of Portuguese colonial engineering. Kilometers of tunnels have been dug into the slopes and cliffs to canalize water from the Contador River. The walk along the old water canal will take you through the forest and abandoned cocoa plantations to the great Contador waterfall.
Sea Turtle Night Patrol
Marine turtles have been coming to São Tomé for millions of years. Between October and April, five species can be seen on the island: the green turtle, the leatherback, the olive riddley, the hawksbill and the caouanne. We invite you to accompany our eco-guides on their nightly patrols of the beach to supervise and protect the sea turtles as they crawl ashore to nest.
Bird-watching Expeditions
São Tomé is also an ornithologist’s paradise: 143 bird species have been identified here and rare endemic species like the São Tomé short tail, São Tomé giant sun bird, and São Tomé fiscal shrike may sometimes be spotted.

Day 8: Friday – Return to Europe

If you fly with TAP, you will be brought to São Tomé airport early in the morning for your flight back to Europe / US.

If you fly with Africa’s Connection to Libreville, Gabon, you have until the late afternoon to relax or explore the island before you will be brought to São Tomé airport for your flight back to Libreville and your connecting flight to Europe / US / South Africa.